Hurricane Hermine

Hurricane+Hermine

Taking aim at Florida’s west coast, Hurricane Hermine, a category 1 hurricane, made landfall near Apalachicola, Florida. Costing about 166.4 million dollars in damages, Hermine hitting other places as well, such as Cuba, New York, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. In those areas, the storm mainly just caused flash floods and produced a heavy amount of rain.

Hermine was the first hurricane to hit land in Florida since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Many houses near the water had flooding due to the ocean surging. Even houses that weren’t near the water still had issues due to the extensive amount of rainfall. With closed schools and flooded streets, Hurricane Hermine made its presence known.

Stations just south of Apalachicola reported winds reaching speeds of almost eighty miles per hour. The rainfall near the Lake Tarpon canal reached about 22.36 inches due to the large amount of rain. Southwest of Windermere, the outer rainbands of the storm caused a minor tornado with a width of 450 feet and wind speeds of 80-85 miles per hour. The eighty mile per hour winds caused power lines to go out and trees to fall, damaging many homes.

Although Hermine was a category 1 hurricane, it was said to be the strongest storm to hit Florida in almost a decade. The hurricane pushed more than a million gallons of sewage into the Tampa Bay area because of the rain. This caused the beaches to close down because they were infected with bacteria. The health department stated that the“area should be considered a potential health risk to the swimmers.”

Due to the harsh weather the hurricane was causing here in Florida, school was canceled on Thursday and Friday, starting back up again the next Tuesday after Labor Day. Hermine sadly came on Labor day week which meant mostly everyone’s weekend plans were cancelled, unless their plans involved getting soaked and playing in the rain… Plus the weather had caused many things to tumble down, such as trees, and even some buildings.

In the end, Hermine caused severe coastal damage and dumped millions of dollars of sewage into the oceans. Being the first hurricane to make landfall in about 11 years, Hermine wasn’t strong but it was damaging to the environment of Florida.